Manishcfc8 wrote:
Hello everyone,
I know this might not be the correct section for admission counselling. However, my concerns revolved around GMAT as well. So, requesting your patience with this post.
I wrote GMAT with 50 days of preparation, scored 710, and then completed the application for ISB round 2 at the eleventh hour. Everything was done in a hurry. I was confident of landing an interview invite until I got a reject from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research with this very same profile. This situation got me demotivated pretty much, and ISB invite was the last thing I had expected. I got the invitation with 4 days of notice, and I clearly couldnt prepare it to my best. At the interview, I was told specifically that I seem to be more of a technical person, and believe this is what went against me. I received the reject invite on 5th March.
Now, having provided all this data, I want to mention my plans for the coming year. I believe with a better GMAT score(in excess of 760) will be helpful. Of course, I am concentrating on improving my overall profle and for this I have considered taking a couple of MOOCs from coursera or edx to get a much clearer overview about my reasons for an MBA, something that I can explain much clearly next time around to the interview panel. I have plans to take up more leadership oriented roles at work. So, I believe with these additional things on my profile, I will have better chances.
A bigger reason I believe is that 710 is around the median score for ISB and other colleges that I am targeting (NUS, HEC, INSEAD, IE. Havent considered US universities yet, so the list will get bigger).
My understanding is that even though GMAT isnt a dealbreaker after getting an interview invite, a 99 percentile score will have some value, especially considering other attributes of my profile are average( General, Engineer Male from India with 3.8 years of IT consulting experience with 1 year of lead role in Paris as a distinguishing factor).
What do experts here think? Should I really invest 3 months of my time on writing GMAT again, or can this time be used to improve other aspects of my profile, considering I will have to start applying again with 6 months now.
Hi
Manishcfc8The first thing for you to know is that GMAT score is the least of all reasons that got you a rejection from ISB and similar may be the reasoning of rejection from SPJIMR
The Qualifying GMAT score for ISB stands at 680 and every year we send students at ISB with similar score and similar profile.
Higher GMAT score helps but not greatly. The Primary reason, in my opinion, for your rejection is the application that you confess to have written in jiffy. The application helps a great deal to help you convert the call. The interview panel reaction on the face is not always detrimental of the reasons as they sometimes say such things just to see the student reaction and see how convincingly the student may sell himself otherwise.
I think taking GMAT again for an improved score may not be a bad idea but focussing more on score improvement side might be a mistake.
SO my suggestion goes as you should focus more on Application and plan to get expert help on that part.
For any further query you may get in touch with us.
I hope this helps!!!
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08 Mar 2018, 12:58
